By Julia Cheunkarndee

When junior Meghna Singh decided to work in mental health wellness, she made a deal with herself: if her efforts benefited one person out of the whole school, or even the whole town, then it would be worth it. Now, as the current Wellness Commissioner and co-president of Reach Out Care Know (ROCK),  Singh believes that her promise still stands true to this day.

In tackling mental wellness at Gunn, Singh is trying to raise awareness, reduce stigma and encourage others to reach out for help. In the past, she has led projects for Not in Our Schools Week, such as a poster with student handprints on it to represent Gunn’s unity. Singh is also a member of Paths from Palo Alto, an online site that shares life and career stories from Palo Alto alumni in order to redefine success.

Singh hopes to introduce training sessions this year to teach students about mental wellness and approaches to take during certain situations. One of these sessions will include information on talking to friends that are experiencing tough times.  “[We] give all this information to the students… because we know that people are more likely to talk with their friends than with an adult,” Singh said. “We respect that, because I’m the same way.”

Through mental health education, Singh aims to foster a community where students are more comfortable with discussing mental health. She aims to spread awareness about the importance of staying both physically and mentally healthy. “Unless you have your mental health and physical health, then you can’t really proceed in life,” she said.  “I think people need to focus more on themselves…when it comes to it, you need to be in a good mindset in order for you to do all those things.”

Singh draws inspiration and finds uniqueness in Gunn’s sense of community.  From spirit activities to working in the classroom, you can always find people who care. “There really are a lot of people here who, even if you don’t know them, if you say ‘can I talk to you for a second?’ they will, and people will reach out to one another and check on each other,” Singh said. “I think that’s something that not many people know about Gunn—that we are a really big family.”